Chosen Thief (12 page)

There was a beat of silence, then his chest vibrated against me as he rumbled, “Correct in one.”

I lifted my head from
his neck, pushing up on his chest to stare down wide-eyed as he tilted his head toward me, amber eyes half-lidded from sleep but still alert as they stared back at me. “I think we fell asleep.” I peered down at our positioning on the couch, the blanket twisted all to hell around us. Both of us had moved at some point and the cushions on the back of the couch were now gone, shoved over the top.
Brann was lying on his back, legs over the end of the couch, while I was curled up over him, half-pressed against the now hard backing of the couch. “How the fuck?”

“No clue,” he muttered as he stared up at me. His head jerked to the right. “We’re not alone.”

I blinked, then I peered in that direction. Instant. “This is not what it looks like.” It hadn’t been a damn dream. King Collins and Queen
Ruckler were standing in front of the television. The Queen had her arms crossed while the King had one arm over his stomach with his other arm crooked so his hand was over his mouth, elbow resting on his other hand. “Seriously. Not at all. I don’t even know how we ended up like this. One second we were watching a movie—” I stopped babbling when Queen Ruckler held up a quick hand.

“Save it. I
can hear words coming out of both of your mouths, and they might be truth now,” she growled, her eyes flashing, “but fuck! This is not a conversation I want to be having.” She growled again but let her head drop forward as she rubbed her forehead, muttering to the ground and to herself, “This is payback. I know it is.” After a moment, she glanced up at King Collins and stated, “You’re not leaving
the damn room for this, so don’t even think about weaseling out.”

King Collins closed his eyes for a few beats then nodded as he opened them and dropped his hand from his mouth. “Let me shut the door first.”

I glanced down quickly at Brann, then back to Queen Ruckler, really not wanting whatever conversation she was acting so irate about. “Look, there’s no reason to talk—”

“I said save it!”
she commanded, stopping me, and I felt a pulse of her power fly through the air. It was none to gentle as it surrounded me before disappearing. “Believe me, this is the last conversation I wanted to be having this morning, but when you both missed breakfast…and even though Sin and Brenna both gave fairly believable excuses…well, neither I nor the other Rulers are blind or ignorant. Luckily we were
the ones to find you like this. Add in the way you both,” she waved a hand, “react to each other, which you both are utterly terrible at hiding, this conversation needs to be had sooner rather than later.”

I blinked, not liking where this was leading. “We missed breakfast?”

King Collins came around the side of the couch, done shutting the door. “Now’s not the time for jokes, Caro.” He jerked
his hand at us. “Both of you sit up so we can get this over with.”

“All right,” I murmured softly, glancing down and trying to untangle the blanket that was damn near twisted and tied around us. I had to practically sit on Brann at one point, straddling him, and yes, my cheeks instantly flushed in embarrassment at the provocative positioning. “Sorry, just a sec.”

“Dear God,” Queen Ruckler muttered,
turning her back to us, head on her hand. “She’s blushing like a damn virgin, and I’m about to have this talk with her?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Brann stated softly, amber eyes peering up at me sensibly, “Caro, just finish getting the blanket undone.” He paused, then he wiggled his left leg. “I think it’s wrapped around my leg first, then your waist, because it keeps pulling every
time you move.” He grabbed my hips and literally lifted me straight above him, holding me in the air effortlessly. “Reach down and pull it out.” Suspended in the air, my jaw dropped, my face flaming further, and he blinked, his eyes running over my face. “The blanket, Caro. Grab the blanket.”

“Oh, for the love of God,” King Collins growled, swiftly striding forward and moving between the couch
and coffee table, shoving his hand between us — straight between Brann’s legs, making Brann freeze, his eyes widening a bit. King Collins wrenched the blanket loose somehow, ordering, “Lower her back down.” Brann did, my position again leaving much to be desired, but King Collins had us untangled in about thirty seconds, muttering a few curses along the way. “There. Now sit the hell up.”

We did,
and though tripping a bit over each other, we managed to get the cushions on the couch in the correct positions and sit halfway comfortably on the couch, Brann with his legs stretched out on the coffee table and me sitting cross-legged. Both of us acted decently relaxed now, my face, at least, no longer burning with a blush.

“Okay,” Queen Ruckler murmured, clapping her hands as she rested back
against the wall, King Collins just standing stationary with his arms crossed. “This first part you’ll both find shocking and interesting. Then, honestly, you’re going to hate the last part of what I have to say, just as much as I hate having to say it.” She inhaled heavily then stated bluntly, “As you both know, sex between factions is illegal.”

Oh, Jesus have mercy.

“I have to tell you that
if you were ever caught by someone, and they charged you, you both would be put under a spelled trial. The ramifications of a guilty verdict are spelled separation and spelled memory wipe. You may not fully understand the pain and suffering this can cause, but I can honestly say I’ve known individuals who have gone through this, and you would rather die than have it happen to you.” She paused, her
gaze intense as she stared back and forth between us. “With that being said, I will tell you that if King Collins or I ever caught you having sexual relations…well, we would never say we caught you having them because, although it is illegal, it isn’t something we disagree with.”

I blinked, utterly and completely dumbfounded.

She nodded a couple of times at whatever we were expressing. “That’s
correct. You heard me right.” She exhaled heavily, appearing weary, her young features taking on years of knowledge that I hoped I would never see in my lifetime. “When the end of the war negotiations were occurring, it was the one Law we couldn’t retract once it had been put in place. We were able to stop the killings happening to hybrids, since we were able to prove they could, indeed, do an
Awakening and with reasoning they could be sterilized, and no one wants to slaughter our people since our main goal is longevity. But, with the Coms’ fears of the beasts, we had to give them something to keep hybrids from being born. And that was the Law that stood, since it didn’t kill anyone.”

Oh, my. I hadn’t known a damn bit of that.

From Brann’s stiff form, I could tell he hadn’t either.

When Queen Ruckler glanced pointedly at King Collins, he sighed, but he took over their little talk, stating, “Now, even though we don’t agree with the Law, there are many who do. Actually, almost all Mysticals and Coms do, especially after the war. In fact, many still oppose us for changing the Law of killing hybrids since, if one slips through the spell when they’re born and they don’t have
their tubes tied or a vasectomy done, they could create the beasts again if they were criminal enough to do so.” He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. “And I’ll tell you right now, with the way you both,” he paused, “
react
to each other, as Queen Ruckler put it, I have to say the chances of you two ending up in bed together is inevitable.”

Nope, I wasn’t breathing and neither was Brann,
the mortification hanging so heavily in the air even I could smell the damn emotion.

King Collins sighed after watching us, pinching his nose, a clear sign of stress. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about, but Jesus…” He paused for a long moment, then dropped his hand, shaking his head at us. “You both need to learn some serious,” he waved a hand, forehead crinkling, “camouflage for the way you
feel about each other, otherwise you will get caught when it does happen, and more than likely it will be by someone who will press charges against you both, not just because they agree one hundred percent with the Law, but because of whom you are going to be. There are probably only a few handfuls of Mysticals on this entire planet who wouldn’t give a shit if the King Shifter and Queen Elemental
were having sex together; the rest would put you through hell with a spelled memory wipe and spelled separation in a heartbeat. Not to mention if that did happen, it would hurt our people for you to be apart and not working together for the rest of your very long lives.”

Both Rulers stared at us blatantly for a full minute, apparently letting all of this sink in, even though as soon as it had
come out of their mouths I had understood it.

“They don’t get it,” King Collins muttered, glancing at Queen Ruckler.

“Yes, I do,” I mumbled, not wanting to hear any more of this.

Queen Ruckler shook her head, walking forward to stand directly in front of us, and bent down, placing her hands on her knees to peer directly in Brann’s face. “Your sister, Brann. You love your sister, right?”

Slowly,
he nodded once.

“Okay, now try to picture every single memory you have of her…just gone. Blank voids of nothingness where any time you may have spent with her growing up, just
poof
, disappeared. Simple things like eating breakfast with each other, family trips, and graduation. All of these things gone, black holes. But you know something’s not right, and no matter how hard you strain to remember,
and you would try to remember to the point it would become your life’s mission…nothing.” She waved her hand. “Just nothing, and you can’t for the life of you figure out how you know certain things. The knowledge will still be there, except you won’t remember how you obtained it, who told you it, how you know you can do something before you have any memories of doing it.” She stared him in the
eyes for a long moment, and to whatever expression he was showing, she nodded. “There you go. Now you have an inkling of what could result in a lifetime of true insanity.”

She altered her stance to me and froze, staring me in the eyes. My heart was already hammering against my breastbone, hot sweat beginning to bead my forehead and palms. I know I stared back at her with saucer eyes, a bit unseeing.
I couldn’t even picture a life like that where Sin was ripped from me, a life of fragments between
nothing
, because he was that much a part of my life. She patted my knee, whispering, “I don’t even need to say anything to you, I can see it in your eyes.”

She stood and walked by King Collins, muttering, “I’ve scared them enough. It’s your turn.”

He almost appeared apologetic at us before his
face turned cold as he stated, “On to the next part, the part I and Queen Ruckler would rather not speak about, but it still needs to be said.” He cleared his throat. “Now, unless you want to live a life of constant fear that a child be born between you two and risk someone finding out through your child — although, it’s not said a child can’t be born — you need to use condoms when you have sex. No
exceptions.” He paused. “Unless one of you has their tubes tied or a vasectomy done, then there’s that exception. Understand?”

Sounding half in a daze, Brann rumbled, “Understood.”

King Collins peered at me expectantly.

My lips pinched, and I glanced away. “Can you move on, please?”

“Caro, this is not a time for shyness—” He shut up when I shot him a hard glance.

“This is not about shyness.
Don’t ask questions.”

He blinked.

Queen Ruckler blinked.

Brann even turned his face to me.

My nostrils flared, and I turned my head away from them all. “Just move along.”

King Collins hummed quietly then stated slowly, “Or unless Caro’s on birth control.” My gaze snapped to him in surprise, and I saw him flash a grin, glancing back at Queen Ruckler, stating, “I knew those books would pay
off.” Appearing pleased with himself even as Queen Ruckler rolled her eyes at him, he turned his attention back to us, shrugging his shoulders a little, and I realized it was in excitement he had figured out a spirit secret. “All right, so condoms, sterilization, or since one of you is a spirit, add in birth control as your forms of contraceptives.” I swear he would have done a little happy dance
right there with how large his grin was. “And I would go into the differences in the sexual act between your factions, but since I honestly don’t know what happens for a spirit, I wouldn’t be much help to you.”

I blinked. “Um, the end result would be pretty standard between male and female with peg A going in slot B.” Even as Brann started chuckling softly at my comment, I paused with dawning
horror, glancing at him wide-eyed. “Wait,” I waved my hands, “Shifters don’t try to do anything freaky with their animals do they?”

His amber eyes met mine, and he squinted at me as he choked hard before managing to mutter, “No. No freaky,” more choking, “animal mating’s here.” I glared at him, my arms crossing as he lost it and started cracking up, his hilarity ringing throughout the room. He
put up a large stopping hand in my direction even as his head tilted back, mouth opened wide, showing me those blinding white teeth as he laughed it up. “Sorry. Sorry.” More snickering. “But you should have seen your face.”

My gaze turned evil before I could hide it with innocence, but luckily he was chuckling merrily so he didn’t see it. “Well, when spirits hit their climax their partner sees
them as they will appear when they’re dead.” I paused. “Like, decomposition dead.”

For a split second, I saw it. His laugh choked off, and his eyes widened in horror before his nostrils flared. Then I got the irritated glare, his eyes narrowing swiftly. “Not funny.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I thought it was.” I smiled sweetly at him before I turned my attention back to King Collins and Queen
Ruckler. King Collins’s jaw was dropped as he stared over his shoulder at Queen Ruckler, pointing at me, only to have Queen Ruckler chuckle quietly and shake her head in a negative. He appeared miserable when he glanced back at me, having been ripped from the possibility of that spirit information. It was a freaking funny-ass expression on him, the ferocious Elemental King.